Commenting on the deal Candace Carlisle, Senior Vice President, BBC Worldwide Americas, said: “The new production has fantastic storylines and production values and has already gained an iconic status around the world. SCI FI Channel is the perfect home for the show and will introduce Doctor Who to a whole new generation of fans in the US.”

This follows one source at SCI FI stating that some of the executives at the network found the series somewhat lacking and didn't think it would fit into the network's schedule. The success of the show and the rapidly expanding fanbase obviously did the trick. We're still divided here at Londonist HQ about some of those episodes ourselves and we did groan loudly over our nutroast at the festive killer xmas tree, but overall we're quite looking forward to seeing David Tennant's first full season. Fans in Cardiff are already excited at spotting Cybermen outside the pub, while we're just praying they don't screw up the return of K-9.

We're less excited though by the news that Billie Piper is set to play Philip Pullman's Victorian London adventurer Sally Lockhart. We're all for more of this sort of thing, but surely the BBC can find a slightly younger actress? We're not convinced that Piper can pull off a sixteen year old (behave!)

But this is good news for Who fans across the Atlantic whose appetites have already been wet by all the online coverage and good word of mouth, while those with the know-how have already torrented the first season and Christmas episode via the darker side of the internets. All good stuff for the show itself and hopefully the series will do as well over there as Spooks and the recent Bleak House adaptation. With new show Life on Mars seemingly well received and a Who spin off on the way, Hyperdrive hopefully getting better as it unfolds and Patrick Stuart about to get all shouty over on ITV in Eleventh Hour it's a pretty good time for homegrown sci-fi.

That said the new improved Battlestar Galactica is still the best show on TV...

Note: go to the current Doctor Whohomepage at your peril - embedded sound and dodgy graphics make it look like it was put together by an 12 year old with an AOL frontpage account.